Sanur, West Bank – Thousands of Israeli soldiers and police began dismantling two West Bank settlements Tuesday, meeting little of the resistance they had expected from hundreds of outside protesters who had moved in because of their opposition to the evacuation.
The settlements, Sanur and Homesh, were home to only a few residents, and many had left before the security forces arrived Tuesday morning.
The operation came a day after the last of the 21 Gaza Strip Jewish settlements was evacuated.
West Bank settler youths had said that they were eager to resist the army and the police, and they had barricaded themselves in buildings and prepared makeshift weapons to repel the police.
Those inside were reported to have arsenals that included stones, sharp metal projectiles, knives and stun grenades.
But the main Sanur synagogue was empty Tuesday less than an hour after forces sawed open a barricade at the gates, and dozens of youths were brought outside.
Troops also broke into a religious school in Sanur and quickly carried out 20 ultra-Orthodox men holed up inside.
A police commander was surrounded by weeping and chanting worshipers as he made a last appeal that they leave voluntarily.
Forces protected by shields and helmets used circular saws to cut open the iron doors of an old British fortress in Sanur where most resisters had barricaded themselves.
Troops brought out resisters from the ground floor of the building as dozens of other protesters danced on the rooftop.
Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, the West Bank commander, said rabbis took control of various groups that might have otherwise offered stiffer resistance.
“The removal is over,” he said, referring to Sanur.
Resistance remained in the nearby settlement of Homesh, in a Jewish seminary and on the rooftop of a house, The Associated Press reported.
Residents of the two other West Bank settlements scheduled for removal, Ganim and Kadim, have already left on their own, the military said.